You're reading: NBU: Reports on preparation for printing cash hryvnia in DPR is a provocation

Media reports on the plans of representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to organize the production of counterfeit hryvnia banknotes on the basis of a printing enterprise in Donetsk city shake Ukrainians' faith in the national currency, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.

‘The said information is absolutely of a provocative character with the purpose of destabilizing the Ukrainian financial system and shaking the trust of the public in the national currency and doing harm to the image of the central bank of the state,’ reads a report of the NBU.

According to the document, under Ukrainian law the NBU is the monopolist in printing the national currency of Ukraine and the central bank organizes cash circulation: the issue and circulation of other monetary units on the territory of the country and the use of monetary surrogates as an instrument of payment is banned.

‘The production of counterfeit monetary units with the purpose of putting them into circulation is punishable under Ukrainian law,’ reads the report, although the central bank did not disclose what punishment could be used for guilty persons staying on the territory that is under the control of the DPR.

The NBU also said that the Ukrainian hryvnia has a high level of protection from counterfeiting: the protection elements on the hryvnia banknotes allow counterfeit banknotes to be detected both during the automated processing of cash using special equipment and during the visual checks not using special detectors.

‘The situation with counterfeit banknotes of the national currency is controllable and it is not of a threatening character,’ the NBU said.

According to the report, in 2013, there were 3.5 counterfeit banknotes per million genuine banknotes (4.1 counterfeit banknotes in 2012 and 3.4 counterfeit banknotes in 2011).

In the European Union countries in 2013, there were 43 counterfeit banknotes per million genuine banknotes (35 banknotes in 2012 and 46 in 2011).

‘If citizens have doubts about the genuineness of banknotes they can go to any bank for further tests by the relevant territorial department of the NBU,’ reads the report.